In its efforts to adopt advanced powering technology to decarbonise power generation in India, NTPC , the country’s largest power generating utility, signed an MOU with GE Power India to demonstrate technologies to reduce the carbon footprint of NTPC’s existing coal-fired power plants.
The MOU aims at partnering on research, development, and engineering of technologies that will enable NTPC to reduce the amount of coal fired in their units and gradually replace it by co-firing alternative fuel in the boilers, such as carbon-neutral carbonaceous fuel like agricultural waste and non-carbon fuels like ammonia.
This will make use of NTPC’s existing infrastructure and require less new investment compared to other decarbonisation methods.
The MOU has, as a primary goal, the intent of enabling NTPC to co-fire biomass pellets beyond 20 per cent and up to 100 per cent, as well as enabling the co-firing of methanol. It will also explore the possibility of introducing ammonia as a co-firing fuel, and develop, test, and demonstrate technologies that allow a total co-firing with lower carbon fuels in coal-fired power plants.